The road to Russia dominates the top matches on bettingexpert

A quartet of decisive fixtures in the qualifying phase for next year’s FIFA World Cup in Russia dominated the list of top five matches on bettingexpert in October.

Unsurprisingly, Croatia denying Ukraine a playoff spot from Group I drew major interest on Better Collective’s tipster community, along with Republic of Ireland’s smash and grab in Cardiff, and a Christian Eriksen inspired 1-0 victory for Denmark in Montenegro.

Austria’s 3-2 victory over Serbia came in fifth on the list, as ‘Das Team’ made a strong finish to a disappointing Group D campaign, while Manchester City’s entertaining 2-1 win over Napoli was the only match to break the monopoly of European qualifiers.

Just like last month, Matchbook, bet365 and Unibet enjoyed a stronghold on these matches, with only Fortuna finding a way into the top three bookmakers for the top five matches. The Central European operator attracted 11% of the bets as Pep’s high-flying City overcame the in-form Naples outfit.

Meanwhile, football held its position as the community’s dominant sport on bettingexpert, albeit with a slightly reduced 66% share of the tips (74% in September). Basketball was the month’s top mover, up to 12% from 4%, as tennis slipped to third despite recording a minor increase (9-10%).

Unibet played a prominent role in the basketball growth by accounting for the largest share of tips in two of the sport’s most popular markets, Asian handicap (13%) and 1×2 (25%).